Iran war updates: US, Iran reach MoU on 60-day truce, Trump yet to approve

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• US Vice President JD Vance said Washington and Tehran have made “a lot of progress” on an agreement to end the war, but Trump is not yet ready to sign a deal.
• US sources earlier confirmed to Al Jazeera that US and Iranian negotiators have agreed on a framework for a 60-day ceasefire extension deal, but it is awaiting Trump’s approval.
• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian repeated his recent assurances that Iran is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons, while blaming regional instability on Israel.
• Cyril Bassil, a humanitarian worker with CARE International in Lebanon, said that the situation in the country’s south is “absolutely catastrophic” and that “fear is extremely palpable” amid Israel’s unrelenting attacks that have killed more than 3,320 people since March.
• Several countries, including the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, have condemned a missile attack on an airbase hosting US forces in Kuwait, with the UAE expressly naming Iran as responsible.

The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation has reduced its threat assessment of the Gulf of Oman from critical to severe, noting that naval presence and enforcement activity remain elevated.

The threat level in the Strait of Hormuz remains critical, the UKMTO reported, in its latest advisory note.

Ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remains “significantly reduced”, although there have been “no security-related incidents reported in the last 48 hours”, the advisory note added.

Only three ships transited the strait on Wednesday, and seven on Tuesday, compared with the pre-war average of 138 vessels a day.

The update also noted that the mining of shipping routes through the strait and interference in satellite navigation systems remained consistent.

JMIC ADVISORY NOTE 001 – UPDATE 051

Click here to view the full advisory ⤵️https://t.co/v6Iqge5966#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/SpjQryoYji

— UKMTO Operations Centre (@UK_MTO) May 28, 2026

For the first time, the UN has placed Israeli entities on its yearly global blacklist for committing sexual violence in conflict areas.

The 2026 UN report will officially feature Israel’s Prison Service, and several other state agencies have been put on close watch for potential addition later.

The historic listing follows years of documented evidence outlining rampant and severe sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees within the Israeli prison system.

Watch the report below:

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has condemned what it described as “the sinful Iranian attacks” that targeted Kuwait, calling them “a blatant violation of international law, and an unacceptable assault on the sovereignty, security, stability, and territorial integrity” of the Gulf country.

In a statement carried by the Wafa news agency, the ministry affirmed “the State of Palestine’s full solidarity with the brotherly State of Kuwait”.

The ministry further reiterated “its rejection of all forms of attacks and actions aimed at destabilising the security and stability of brotherly Arab nations”.

Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Jarrah Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah has spoken on the phone with his United Arab Emirates counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, following the “sinful Iranian aggressions that targeted the State of Kuwait”.

“Both sides affirmed the full right of the State of Kuwait to take all necessary measures to preserve its sovereignty, maintain its security and stability, and protect its people and residents on its territory,” a brief summary of the call released by Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said.

As we reported earlier, the US military said that a ballistic missile launched towards Kuwait by Iran was “successfully intercepted”.

Iran did not specifically say that it had targeted Kuwait, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it struck a base used by United States forces in response to US attacks near the Strait of Hormuz.

A crude oil tanker is the latest of more than 10 stranded Chinese ships to have exited the Strait of Hormuz, according to shipping industry journal Lloyd’s List.

Hua Lin Wan, an Aframax, medium-sized oil tanker, owned by Chinese shipping firm Cosco, transited the strait on Wednesday, according to Lloyd’s List.

Cosco’s president, Lin Ji, told Lloyd’s that crew and vessel safety are the top priority as they work to withdraw their remaining vessels from the Gulf.

Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has hit out at the US for the Trump administration’s recent threats against Oman.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would “aggressively” impose sanctions on Oman if it helps Iran establish a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz, intensifying President Donald Trump’s threats against the Gulf ally.

In response, Baghaei described the threats as “an attempt to blackmail an independent state that is a member of the United Nations and another sign of the moral bankruptcy of the US system of governance and politics”.

Baghaei said the threat of sanctions was an “illegal act” and the “international community should respond responsibly to this approach, preventing the increasing normalisation of violations of international legal norms”.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 19 attacks on Thursday, targeting invading Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon.

The group said that its fighters deployed a mix of rocket barrages, artillery shells and attack drones to confront Israeli forces across multiple southern towns, including Biyyada, Odaisseh, Qantara and Zawtar el-Charqiyeh.

The US Treasury Department has announced another wave of sanctions aimed at Iran’s revenue streams, this time targeting the military oil trade.

Eight vessels accused of involvement with transporting Iranian crude oil and petroleum products to global markets have been designated, including the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Flora, the Comoros-flagged crude oil tanker Hauncayo and the Panama-flagged tanker Ill Gap.

More than 15 other entities, including Worth Seen Energy Limited in Hong Kong, Symphony Shipping and Maritime Management Inc in Dubai, and Hong Kong-based Mehdiyev Trading Co, also received designations, the Treasury said.

As we just reported, Secretary Scott Bessent said in a White House briefing that lifting sanctions against Iran is not “on the table until we see the Strait of Hormuz open, and the Iranians agree they have to turn over the highly enriched uranium”.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the number of people killed in Israeli attacks on the country since March 2 has reached 3,324.

The number of those injured rose to 10,027, the ministry statement carried by the National News Agency added.

Donald Trump said in the cabinet meeting that, if Oman were to start being involved in charging tolls for progressing through the Strait of Hormuz, “we’ll blow them up.”

Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, has clarified he spoke to the Omani ambassador in the last couple hours, and Oman has no intention of charging any sort of money for going through the Strait of Hormuz – and certainly wouldn’t want to be sanctioned by the United States.

So, for the time being, that seems to put that to bed.

As for Donald Trump’s long-term game plan here, he wants to get a deal. He wants something that reaches their goals, that he can sell, and is acceptable to him, as well.

Clearly, there’s a lot of things still to be discussed.